More news and analysis at The Left Anchor

There has been a lot of banter lately about Jim Webb (D-VA) being the VP pick of Obama or Clinton (yeah, right, Clinton will win the nomination.  I have some waterfront property on Venus I'd like to sell you).  There are a lot of pluses to Webb.  He's a former Republican with a wealth of military experience and he also has administrative experience as Secretary of the Navy. All of those will appeal to independents, moderates, and Southerners. He's also from a state that may finally swing, Virginia, if the right Democratic ticket presents itself.  Webb also appears to be playing the part of someone interested in the VP slot.  He's remained neutral in the presidential race and he just released a book about the plethora of problems facing this country. 

But even with all these pluses, I don't think that he should be the VP candidate.  I know, I know, I must be crazy.  This Scots-Irishman is tailor-made to win over blue-collar voters and remove doubts about Obama's experience and will give Obama instant credibility on any foreign policy issue.  However, Webb has some hidden negatives that most people don't realize.  As a person who sat through his very tight race with George Allen, I can tell you that Webb did little to win that election and that Allen lost it more than Webb won it. 

First, Webb was a terrible campaigner.  He wasn't particularly good at giving speeches and he showed little interest in campaign events.  He'd frequently show up, eat his dinner, collect the check, and leave.  Not quite Bill Clinton, who kept restaurants open in the New Hampshire primary in 1992 just talking to people.  Second, if George Allen doesn't get caught on YouTube.com using a racial slur, Allen wins the election and may have been the Republican presidential nominee (shudders at thought).  Even with the racial slur, Webb won by a very, very narrow margin, just over 7,000 votes out of more than 2 million cast. 

Third, let's look at Webb's supposed strength with blue-collar workers.  Allen took most of rural Virginia from Webb despite the fact that he's a turd and Webb is intelligent, capable, and tough as hell in a debate with Lindsey Graham on Meet The Press.  Here's a link to the 2006 county map, and here's a link to a county-by-county breakdown of the 2006 Senate election.  If you take the Northern Virginia counties out of the race, Allen wins.  Why did Webb not do so well outside of Northern Virginia?  Well, I think there are multiple reasons.  One is that Allen has always been strong in the Southwestern part of the state, but the most important is what I mentioned earlier about Webb not being a good campaigner.  A VP candidate is usually the attack-dog in the race, someone who will go out and barnstorm and get tough with and attack the other side.  Both Gore and Cheney played those roles.  I'm not sure that Webb has what it takes to go out day-to-day and really campaign hard and beat down the opposition.  He's not really that kind of a guy.  He's more a Senator than anything else.  He's great at crafting legislation, detailing policy problems, and debating on television programs.  While those are all important things for a VP to have, the VP also needs to be able to go out and campaign, campaign, and campaign, and I'm not sure Webb is up to that challenge.  Of course, the fact that the Republicans are in such bad shape this election may make this a moot point, but I'd just as soon get a real tough campaigner at the bottom of the slot if the race narrows.